Drier for motion-picture films



J. G. CAPSTAFF. DRIER FOR MOTIONI'PICTURE FILMS.

APPLICATION FILED APR- Z. 1920.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921..

UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN G. CAIPSTAFF, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 EASTMAN KODAK COM- PAIT'Y, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

original application filed March 29, 1918, Serial No. 225,388. Diirided and this application filed. April 9.,

To re 10 71.0722 it m ay concern Be it known that I, Join: (i. CAPSTAFF, ot Rochester, in the county of Monroe and Fitate of New York. have invented certain new and useful improvements in Drier-s tor lilotion-Picture Films; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full. clear, and exact description ot the same, reference being: had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and to the reference-numerals marked thereon.

My present invention relates to drying apparatus and more particularly to machines for drying continuous flexible strips. This application is a division of my prior pending application Serial No. 225,388, filed March 29, 1918, and entitled Apparatus for treating motion picture film. This invention has for its object to provide an improved drier of considerable capacity and in a convenient form that will be adapted for drying motion picture film in strips after the film has passed through a dyeing process for the projection of pictures in color, though the present apparatus in some of its aspects, has a wider range of usefulness that will be recognized by those skilled in the art. tion resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as will be hereiir after more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claim at the end of the specification.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a drier con- .structed in accordance with and illustrating one embodiment f my invention, the same being shown in connection with a fragment of the dyeingapparatus claimed in my said parent application and in connection with which the present drier is adapted to work to perform a continuous dyeing and drying; operation upon the film;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view and I Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken substantially on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several views indicate the same parts.

in certain processes 0t color photography as applied to motion pictures. two colors are used in the film, one red and the other green and they are applied to opposite faces of the film strip in a liquid state by the machine, a fragment of which is shown the right To these" and other ends the inv'en Serial No. 370,847.

of Figs. 1 and 2. The film is indicated at A and attcr receiving the dye on its under side only, it passes out of the container 6 beneath an idler 23 and thence over two capillary rolls 2% that similarly treat only the under side and apply a mordanting solution. The film strip then passes beneath an idler 2G and over a device indicated generally at 29 that involves a vacuum tube 30 and which removes excess liquid from the under surface of the film.

The film having been dyed, mordanted and the excess liquid removed from its sur face. it is passed into the drying chamber of the present invention embodying a casing 37 having an entrance slot 38. of this drying chamber are a plurality of roller supports 39 and there is a similar series 4.0 at the bottom. The film strip first passes over a roll 41 adjacent to the slot 38 and thence downwardly under the first of the roller supports 40. thence upwardly over the first of the roller supports 39 and so back and forth so that it is disposed in vertical loops until it finally emerges at the last roll 39 which is in a wall of the casing 37 whereupon the strip passes downwardly and is wound upon a take-up roll 42 supported in brackets 43 on the exterior of casing 37. This roll is driven by a belt 44 passing over a pulley -15 thereon and thence over a pulley 46 on the casing 37, which pulley 46 is in turn driven, in the present instance, by a belt 47 running to a pulley 48 on a shaft 49 forming part of certain gearing embodied in the dyeing machine. The mordanting rolls 24 are positively driven from the same source of power and in a direction that assists the passage oft-he film strip through the ma chine. Otherwise, the strip is drawn through the machine by the take-up roll 42.

Extending from the top of the casing- 37 are a plurality of partitions 56 which meet the roll supports it) and come on opposite sides ot the roll supports 39 while from the bottom of the casin extend upwardly a plurality of partitions 07 which terminate short of these roll supports 39 and come on opposite sides of the roll supports 40. In other words, the partitions 56 inclose the downwardly opening loops of the film 36 while the partitions 57 extend within these loops. A suitable blower 58 impels a current of air against the treated side of the film as i enters the At the top Patented Oct, 13., 192i...

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s drying chamber and this air current follows the sinuous passage formed by the partitions 56 and 57 in which the film is disopening 59 at the opposite side of the dry chamber, all as will be observed from an inspection of Fig. 1.- It will be noted in this connection,'that the current of air when so directed follows along in contact with the treated face of the film rather than the u i1- treated face passing between the partitions 57 and the roll supports 39 but under the roll supports 40.

The casing 37 has been shown, in the present instance with I a glass front 60 through which the progress of the film may be observed. 7

I claim as my invention:

In a machine for treating continuous lengths of motion picture film, a drier comprising a casing and upper and lower guides therein overwhich the film may be passed in successive loops, partitions connecting one set of guides wit-h the opposite wall of a the casing and alternating partitions having their ends spaced from the other set of guides to form a sinuous passage for the film v and means for moving a current of air through said passage on one side of the film.

- JOHN G. CAPSTAFF. 

